Global trends of the common European framework of reference: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is a crucial reference framework for informing teaching, learning and assessment that has achieved worldwide prominence in language education. However, there have been concerns raised regarding the breadth of its influence across different domains and countries. Using a bibliometric approach, a sample of 770 scholarly works on the CEFR publications from the Scopus database was observed to investigate the CEFR research activity. The data was analysed using Microsoft Excel for frequency analysis, VOSviewer for data visualisation, and Harzing's Publish or Perish for citation metrics and analysis. This study sought to investigate the evolution of CEFR research from its inception and subsequent trends based on source title, country and institution, and examined the citation pattern of the publication. It also discusses the fundamental themes based on the occurrences and terms of the keywords, titles and abstracts of the documents. This paper also identifies the major key players involved in the research. The findings demonstrate that the CEFR has been widely disseminated and has had a substantial impact, since the number of publications outside of Europe, such as in North America and Asia, has increased. However, cross-country collaboration revealed a dearth of CEFR research collaboration across Asia. The findings provide essential input towards the emerging movements and issues in articles, journal performance, collaboration patterns, and research constituents, contributing to the scarce literature on the global trends of the CEFR.